To say that an idea “went viral” after it appeared on the New York Times front page is nearly as silly as saying a commercial “went viral” after appearing in the Super Bowl, or saying E. coli “goes viral” when many people get sick eating at the same restaurant. Words have meanings, and even the most elastic definition of virality has nothing to do

There is an old Japanese term that perfectly sums up this surfeit of content: “tsundoku.” It means the piling up of unread books. In the twenty-first century, we all live in the shadow of an enormous multimedia tsundoku.

When I started daydreaming about this book, I spent a lot of time talking to psychologists about fluency—ease of thinking. But as I reflected on my own favorite books and songs and movies, I came to see that what I like most aren’t the easy things, but rather the reward that something difficult has become comprehensible.

it is precisely because great stories are persuasive that we should be cautious about which narratives to let into our hearts.

the power of familiarity is discounted when people realize that the moderator is trying to browbeat them with the same stimulus again and again. This is one reason why so much advertising doesn’t work: People have a built-in resistance to marketing that feels like it’s trying to seduce them.

what I like most aren’t the easy things, but rather the reward that something difficult has become comprehensible.

It was only because Lucas couldn’t buy Flash Gordon or remake Hidden Fortress that he was forced to nourish his story with the thousand references that make Star Wars the iconic universe it is.

Loewy had what must have seemed like an ineffable sense of what people like. He also had a grand theory of it. He called it MAYA. People gravitate to products that are bold, yet instantly comprehensible—“Most Advanced Yet Acceptable.”

This is the first thesis of the book. Most consumers are simultaneously neophilic—curious to discover new things—and deeply neophobic—afraid of anything that’s too new. The best hit makers are gifted at creating moments of meaning by marrying new and old, anxiety and understanding. They are architects of familiar surprises.